What is now the largest solar power plant in the whole of Africa — the 96 MW Jasper Power Plant, located in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, near Postmasburg — is now online, according to recent reports.
This means that the project, which is composed of about 325,000 solar PV modules, is online a full two months before it was expected to be, following its early construction.
The important South African project, which was announced just last year, was developed and financed by SolarReserve, Intikon Energy, and the Kensani Group, with further backing coming via Rand Merchant Bank, the Public Investment Corporation, Development Bank of South Africa, and the PEACE Humansrus Trust.
The project is part of the broader South African Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program (REIPPPP) — which means that a portion of its total revenues will be set aside (roughly $26 million over the project’s expected lifetime) and redistributed for use in “rural development and education programs.”
Now that it’s completed, the Jasper Power Plant is expected to deliver around 180,000 MW-hours of renewable electricity annually — roughly enough to completely power 80,000 South African households.
The completion of the project brings South Africa closer to its relatively ambitious goal of possessing 18 GW of renewable energy capacity by the year 2030. The project should also help (to some degree) limit the scope of the power shortages that have been affecting the country as of late. A large build-out of renewable energy infrastructure over the next couple of years would of course be necessary to address the issue in a more “complete” kind of way — which would be in fitting with the country’s goals.
Image Credit: Jasper Power Plant/Solar Reserve
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